This healthy homemade granola recipe is baked in the oven with oats, nuts and seeds and is easily customizable to fit your own tastes.
I rediscovered my grandma's granola recipe a few years ago in the family archives. However, in light of our family's need to watch our sugar, I made some easy modifications. It's still got the same toasty crunch and nostalgic flavor without the sugar crash after.
How to Make Healthy Homemade Granola
If you can stir and turn an oven on, you can make this granola. All you have to do is combine the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients into one big bowl and then spread it out onto sheet pans and bake it at a low 225F for 2 hours. No need to turn it, toss it, disturb it. Just leave it alone.
One important step though is to divide the wet granola mixture out onto two parchment-lined baking sheet pans. The parchment helps to create a barrier between the metal and the granola so it doesn't get too toasty.
Two sheet pans are important so that you are spreading the granola in a thin layer. If it's too thick your granola won't get crunchy.
How do you know the granola is done?
One important thing to know is that at the end of two hours of baking at the low 225F temperature, the granola will still be soft to the touch. That's how it's supposed to be! Go ahead and pull it out of the oven as long as the color looks nice and golden. And then let it rest for 20 minutes on the countertop. While it rests it will magically get crunchy and even adhere to itself. That way you'll get those fabulous granola clusters that I love so much.
Here's how "golden" it should look coming out of the oven.
Adding Dried Fruit to Granola
One optional addition to this recipe is dried fruit. I love dried fruit but so much of it has added sugar. I recently came across The Ugly Co dried fruits which are upcycled and unsweetened. Win, win!
For the batch in this post I used their dried apricots as well as another nostalgic favorite, dried oat flour rolled dates. Of course, you can nix the fruit altogether or add your own favorite.
One heads up, though, don't add the dried fruit until after the granola has baked and cooled. I toss it in at the end. Otherwise, if it bakes with the rest of the granola it gets super dried out and doesn't taste great anymore.
I like to enjoy this granola on a cup of yogurt with fresh fruit. You can sprinkle it on top of a bowl of oatmeal for a little extra texture. Or even grab a handful as a quick snack.
Also check out my Apple Pie Granola for a fun twist with extra spices and crispy apples.
Easy Homemade Granola
- Total Time: 2 hours 10 min
- Yield: 18 servings
- Diet: Diabetic
Description
A toasty, easy homemade granola based on my grandma's famous recipe with oats, nuts and seeds. It's perfect on yogurt or as a quick snack.
Ingredients
- 3.5 cup dry, uncooked rolled oats
- 1 cup chopped unsalted raw nuts *any variety that you like
- ⅓ cup unsalted raw pumpkin seeds
- ¼ cup hemp seeds
- ¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- ⅓ cup avocado oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp almond extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Optional: ½ cup dried fruit (I like ¼ cup apricots and ¼ cup oat rolled dates)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 225F and line two large sheet trays (18'' x 26'') with parchment paper
- In a large bowl combine the 3.5 cups rolled oats, 1 cup chopped nuts, ⅓ cup pumpkin seeds, ¼ cup hemp seeds, and ¼ cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine ¾ cup maple syrup, ⅓ cup avocado oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ teaspoon almond extract, ½ teaspoon salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and mix to combine.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until all the oats are covered and everything is fully combined.
- Divide the granola mixture onto the two prepared sheet pans and spread out into a thin layer. You want it nice and thin so that it toasts evenly and comes out crunchy in the end.
- Bake the granola at 225F for 2 hours until it becomes a nice golden color. It will still be soft to the touch, but never fear, it will get crunchy after you remove it from the oven.
- Remove the granola from the oven after 2 hours and let it sit on the countertop to cool for at least 20 minutes. It's while the granola cools that it becomes crunchy.
- Once the granola has fully cooled, break it up and then put it in an airtight container to store for up to a month.
- Optional: If you like dried fruit in your granola, you can add ½ cup of chopped dried fruit to the final granola. Do not add the fruit before the baking as it will get too dried out and hard to eat.
Notes
- Nutrition Facts are calculated based on the recipe without dried fruit added
- Do not use instant or steel-cut oats for this recipe
- You can use any nuts you like. I used walnuts, pecans, and pistachios in the photos of this recipe.
- If hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds aren't your jam, feel free to swap them with any preferred seeds or other nuts.
- If you want to further lower the sugar content of this recipe, replace the maple syrup with any preferred liquid sugar replacement such as Dolcedi or Lakanto monkfruit syrup
- You can substitute avocado oil with your favorite neutral-flavored oil
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: snack
- Method: baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3.5 oz
- Calories: 215
- Sugar: 8.3 g
- Sodium: 131.5 mg
- Fat: 11.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 22.8 g
- Fiber: 2.9 g
- Protein: 4.3 g
- Cholesterol: 0 mg
Looking for more nostalgic family favorites?
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